iTime Travel
by JinxedThingsRinging
Summary: One of Spencer's crazy sculptures turns out to be a time machine.
1. Chapter 1

I have no idea where this story is going, to be honest. Just wanted to write it. Enjoy.

"What is _that_?"

Carly and her friends had entered her apartment after school to find a large circular object, like a giant ring, in the center of the living room. Spencer was standing beside it, painting a design around the edge. "Hey guys!" he called.

"That a new sculpture?" Carly asked, tossing her backpack on the couch.

Spencer nodded. "It's for some high school reunion. It's supposed to be a class ring."

Carly tilted her head to the side slightly, studying the object. "Yeah, I can see it."

"All I see is that I don't have food right now," Sam said, heading to the kitchen. "You got any ham?"

"I'm not sure," Carly replied. She was used to her friend invading her fridge, and she knew if they did have ham, it would be gone soon. "Can you grab me a soda?"

"Me too," Freddie called.

Strangely, Sam didn't argue with Freddie's request, and after getting her ham, calmly handed soda cans to both Carly and Freddie.

Freddie narrowed his eyes at her. "You shook the can, didn't you?"

"You don't trust me," Sam said, mocking offense.

"No, I don't!" Freddie pointed out. But he cautiously opened the can anyways, and, finding it safe, took a drink.

Sam smirked at him.

"I don't know what you're up to," Freddie mumbled.

"Done!" Spencer announced, dropping his paintbrush to the ground. "And it will _not_ light on fire this time!"

"Did you make one that _did _light on fire?" Carly asked.

Spencer hesitated. "No…"

Carly rolled her eyes at her brother.

"But look!" the artist said. "You can walk through this! It's so cool!" He stepped to one side of the ring and walked through the opening to the other side. "Come on, it's fun!"

Carly and her friends headed through the giant ring, not quite as excited as Spencer. They found that he'd put a springy mat in the base, about as bouncy as a broken trampoline. Sam couldn't help but jump on it. She didn't jump high, but high enough that her head hit the top of the ring, causing the sculpture to wobble.

"Careful!" Spencer cried, rushing to steady the art.

This would be the point where normally the artwork would spontaneously combust, but today, something more bizarre happened. The space inside the ring glowed, and Sam, still standing in there, disappeared.

Carly and Freddie rushed towards the ring, calling their friend's name. Stepping inside the space, they disappeared as well.

Spencer was tempted to walk away, let the kids handle this, but this was different from their normal antics—they'd _vanished_. He hesitated, but stepped in the space after them.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam found herself in an empty field. It surprised her—empty fields were rare in Seattle. Besides that, she had been in Carly's apartment literally a minute ago…so where was she now?

Within a minute, Carly and Freddie showed up, followed by Spencer.

"Where are we?" Carly asked, frightened by the sudden change in her surroundings.

Freddie shrugged as Sam questioned, "Who cares? Let's just get back. I wasn't done with that ham."

"Come on, let's find a bus and get back," Spencer said, picking a random direction and walking that way.

"Look at you, all acting like an adult," Carly teased.

"I am an adult," Spencer argued weakly.

Carly just rolled her eyes as she followed her brother.

The group wasn't walking for too long before they reached a road. The pavement was old and cracked, but fresh oil spots showed that cars still used it. One way stretched off into the distance, but the other way led to a city not more than a mile farther.

"So which way do you guys think we should go?" Spencer asked.

Carly stared incredulously at him. Well, Spencer acting like an adult was nice while it lasted. "I think we should go towards _civilization_."

Spencer glanced the way Carly was pointing. "Oh hey, there's a city over there!"

They walked in silence, each noticing their surroundings and the uneasy feeling they got from the situation. The world around them was quiet—a few birds chirping, but no cars honking, no people shouting. It was strange.

Sam broke the silence by asking, "What the chiz is going on here?"

"I don't know," Carly replied. "But we're almost there." And it was true, just a few yards ahead lay a row of neatly trimmed suburban lawns.

The front door of a blue house with perfectly white trim opened, and a young boy ran out into the street. A woman followed onto the front porch, calling, "Michael! Be back by sundown!"

The boy just waved to his mother, before catching sight of the group heading down the street. He ran over to them. "Are you new in town?"

"Uh, yeah," Carly said. "We're kind of lost."

The boy laughed. "Gee, how do you not know where you are? This is Seattle!"

Carly and her friends looked at each other, and they laughed.

"This isn't Seattle!" Sam said. "We just came from Seattle!"

The boy joined in the laughter and said, "You're strange. Why are you wearing pants?"

Sam raised an eyebrow and looked down at her clothes, one of her penny tees and an old pair of jeans. "Yeah…what else would I wear?"

"Mama says only bad girls wear pants," the boy said. "Are you a bad girl?"

"Yeah, I am," Sam said. "So why don't you just run home?"

"And tell 'Mama' this isn't the 1960s!" Carly added.

The boy gave Carly a strange look. "Of course not, it's 1954!" He would have continued, but he cautiously glanced at Sam and ran away in terror.

The group looked at each other.

"Did he say 1954?" Freddie asked.

"Uh-huh," Carly replied, a stunned look on her face.

Sam sighed. "I'm never getting my ham back, am I?"


	3. Chapter 3

The gang kept walking through the strange city that was apparently Seattle, hoping to find somewhere that was familiar. Spencer recalled that Ridgeway High had been built in 1952—if this was truly Seattle, they'd find that.

It didn't take them long to pass the neat rows of perfect houses—although they did all comment how creepy the quiet perfection was.

"Apparently the 1950s were a terrifying era in history," Carly said as they passed the last house.

"Yeah, no chiz," Sam muttered. She then caught sight of a restaurant up ahead. "Hey, let's stop there."

"No, we're going to the school," Freddie said. "We don't need to stop to get you food."

"We don't know where we _are_," Sam pointed out. "They can give us directions. You're such a nub."

Freddie hesitated, not wanting to admit Sam had a good point. Luckily for him, Carly interrupted with, "I'm kind of hungry, and directions are a good idea."

"Fine," Freddie conceded.

They headed to the restaurant. It was a small diner, a few patrons and one waitress. It didn't seem any different from the roadside diners of their time. The waitress caught sight of the group and approached them. "Shouldn't you kids be in school?" she asked.

"Shouldn't _you_?" Sam challenged. The waitress didn't look much older than them.

She sighed, and pulled out a pad and pencil. "Fine, sit down. What do you want?"

"Biggest burger you have," Sam said.

"I'll have some fries," Carly added.

Spencer just got a soda, and Freddie refused to get anything, claiming, "We shouldn't be stopping here."

"Get over it," Sam said, sliding into one of the booths near the window.

"How are we going to pay for the food?" Freddie pointed out. "Do any of us have money from the 50s?"

There was a pause as they each checked their pockets. Between them, they managed to find two quarters—60-year-old money wasn't exactly easy to find.

The waitress came to the table, carrying the soda.

"Uh, all we have money for is this," Carly said, handing the waitress the quarters. "Sorry."

The waitress dropped the money in a pocket of her apron. "At least you aren't running out like most kids do. Finish that, and get on out."

"Can you tell us where the high school is?" Freddie asked.

The waitress put her hands on her hips and gave him an odd look. "Honey, don't you go there? It's two blocks over."

"We're just a little lost," Carly said.

"Well, you better get there soon," the waitress replied. "School's almost over for the day."

The group sighed and turned to each other. "So what are we going to do?" Sam asked.

"I have no idea," Carly groaned. "Get to the school and then…something."

Sam turned to Spencer. "_You_ got us into this. Get us home!"

"I don't know how we got here," Spencer said with a shrug.

"Then figure it out," Sam snapped.


	4. Chapter 4

The group arrived at the high school not long after Spencer had finished his soda. The school certainly looked like the Ridgeway that they knew—some of the fixtures in the building were different, because obviously things had been updated since the 50s, but the structure was basically the same.

"Where do we go now?" Sam asked.

"I don't know," Carly said. "This is weird."

A bell rang, and students started wandering out of the classrooms. They were dressed far more conservatively than anyone the gang usually saw walking through these halls. The girls wore ankle-length skirts, and the guys wore sweaters over their shirts.

"We should talk to someone," Freddie suggested.

"I'm not talking to any of these freaks," Sam muttered.

"How about her?" Carly asked, pointing to a girl standing at a bank of lockers where fifty years later, this group would store their books. She seemed to be the only girl not in a skirt, instead opting for jeans rolled up at the ankle and a short-sleeved blouse. She opened her locker and pulled out a burger in a paper wrapper from some diner, possibly the one the group had been to earlier.

"Not girly and likes meat," Sam observed. "My kind of girl."

"Okay, we'll go talk to her," Carly said. "And Spencer, why don't you go find a science teacher or someone else who can help? You're probably better at talking to teachers, you know, since you're an adult, they're adults…"

Spencer held up a hand, quieting his sister. "Okay. Call me if you need help."

"You know, our phones probably don't work here," Freddie pointed out.

"Then if you need help, make this sound," Spencer replied, before cupping his hands over his mouth and doing a bird call that somehow sounded like a cat in pain.

Freddie just watched him incredulously. "Yeah, I'll try to do that."

Spencer headed off, and the three teenagers approached the girl who was now devouring her hamburger. After eating the final bite, she tossed the wrapper over her shoulder and looked at the group coming towards her. "You want something?"

"Um, yeah," Carly said. "We're kind of lost, and we were wondering if you could help us."

"Why me?" the girl asked.

"'Cause you're the only normal chick here," Sam said.

The girl laughed. "I'm not normal. But I'll help you, if you really want."

"That would be so good," Carly said. "I'm Carly, by the way. This is Sam and Freddie."

"Fran," the girl introduced herself. "Where are you from?"

"That's the thing," Carly said. "We're actually from-"

"Yakima," Freddie interrupted.

Carly turned to Freddie. "Can I talk to you over there?" She started walking away from Fran, then called back, "Sam, you too."

"What?" Freddie asked when the group was out of earshot of Fran.

"Why'd you lie to her?" Carly asked.

"She's not going to help us if she thinks we're crazy," Freddie said. "I don't think she's going to help us at all, anyways."

"You got a better idea?" Sam challenged.

Freddie raised an eyebrow, but shook his head.

"Let's just say that we need to meet a scientist or something," Carly said. "Maybe there's someone smart enough to help us get back to our time."

"Back to the future?" Freddie suggested with a hopeful grin.

"You know, your nerd references really aren't funny," Sam said.

"Let's just get back to her?" Carly said.

The group returned to Fran, who was now chewing a piece of gum and looking bored.

"Do you know any scientists or smart people around here?" Carly asked unsurely. "We heard there was someone really smart."

"I heard of someone," Fran replied. "I'll ditch class and take you there."

"Oh, we don't want to make you miss class," Carly said.

"No problem," Fran interrupted. "I was going to ditch anyways. You're giving me something to do."

"Are you sure?" Carly pressed.

"She said she's fine with it," Sam pointed out. "Come on, I want to get ho-I mean, to this scientist person."

Fran looked around, checking for any teachers wandering the halls. The bell rang, shepherding most of the students back into classrooms. Fran motioned the group to head towards the door.

Before Fran could open the door, Carly stopped her. "Won't this set off an alarm?"

Fran laughed. "Why would it do that?" She pushed the door open, and although in the future it would be a fire exit that would start a loud alarm, this time it was quiet.

"Come on," Fran said, ducking out the door. "He's down the street."


End file.
